Neill States, And There Is Abundant Proof, That "The Earl Of Warwick And Gorges Were In Sympathy," And Were Active Coadjutors, While It Is Self-Evident That Both Would Be Anxious To Accomplish The Permanent Settlement Of The "Northern Plantations" Held By Their Company.

That they would hesitate to utilize so excellent an opportunity to secure so very desirable a colony, by any means available, our knowledge of the men and their records makes it impossible to believe, - while nothing could apparently have been easier of accomplishment.

It will readily be understood that if the conspirators were these men, - upon whose grace the Pilgrims must depend for permission to remain upon the territory to which they had been inveigled, or even for permission to depart from it, without spoliation, - men whose influence with the King (no friend to the Pilgrims) was sufficient to make both of them, in the very month of the Pilgrims' landing, "governors" of "The Council for New England," under whose authority the Planters must remain, - the latter were not likely to voice their suspicions of the trick played upon them, if they discovered it, or openly to resent it, when known. Dr. Dexter, in commenting on the remark of Bradford, "We made Master Jones our leader, for we thought it best herein to gratifie his kindness & forwardness," sensibly says, "This proves nothing either way, in regard to the charge which Secretary Morton makes of treachery against Jones, in landing the company so far north, because, if that were true, it was not known to any of the company for years afterward, and of course could not now [at that time] impair their feelings of confidence in, or kindness towards, him. Moreover, the phraseology, "we thought it best to gratifie," suggests rather considerations of policy than cordial desire, and their acquaintance, too, with the man was still young. There is, however, no evidence that Jones's duplicity was suspected till long afterward, though his character was fully recognized. Gorges himself furnishes, in his writings, the strongest confirmation we have of the already apparent fact, that he was himself the prime conspirator. He says, in his own "Narration," "It was referred [evidently by himself] to their [the London Virginia Company's] consideration, how necessary it was that means might be used to draw unto those their enterprises, some of those families that had retired themselves into Holland for scruple of conscience, giving them such freedom and liberty as might stand with their liking." When have we ever found Sir Ferdinando Gorges thus solicitous for the success of the rival Virginia Company? Why, if he so esteemed the Leyden people as excellent colonists, did he not endeavor to secure them himself directly, for his own languishing company? Certainly the "scruple of conscience" of the Leyden brethren did not hinder him, for he found it no bar, though of the Established Church himself, to giving them instantly all and more than was asked in their behalf, as soon as he had them upon his territory and they had applied for a patent.

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